Mealey's Water Rights
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October 12, 2021
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases
New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
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October 12, 2021
New Mexico Appeals Court Affirms, Reverses Water Rights Adjudication For Mine
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico appeals court panel on Sept. 17 affirmed in part and reversed in part a state adjudication court’s rulings on water rights involving a once and future copper mine.
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October 12, 2021
New Mexico Federal Judge Vacates Trump Clean Water Rule, Remands To Agencies
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge on Sept. 27 vacated the Trump administration’s 2020 Clean Water Rule and remanded an Indian tribe’s case to the Environmental Protection Agency, where a new rule is under development.
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October 12, 2021
Pennsylvania Court: Broke City Can Try To Seize Assets Of Namesake Water Agency
HARRISBURG, Pa. — In a 5-2 ruling, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Sept. 16 said a financially distressed city has power to seek the assets of a water authority it created in 1939 but currently shares with two counties.
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October 12, 2021
Georgia Water Supply Case Dismissed After Army Corps Reallocates Reservoir Water
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge on Sept. 14 dismissed a water supply case brought by Georgia and two water districts against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the defendant reallocated water and updated water project manuals for Alabama and Georgia.
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October 12, 2021
Challenge To Groundwater Incentive Program Stayed Pending Circuit Court Appeal
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on Sept. 24 granted a motion by two environmental groups and a sportsmen’s association to stay pending appeal his Sept. 14 denial of a preliminary injunction against a groundwater extraction project in the Sacramento River Valley.
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October 12, 2021
California Appeals Court: County Can’t Regulate Water Project Drilling
SAN JOAQUIN, Calif. — A California appeals court on Sept. 23 said a trial court did not err in ruling that the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) is immune from a county ordinance regulating exploratory drilling for a state water project in the California Delta.
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October 12, 2021
2 Delta Water Agencies Say SWRCB Water Curtailment Violates Due Process
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two northern California water districts on Sept. 2 sued the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in state court, arguing that the board’s recent water curtailment order for pre- and post-1914 water diverters violates due process.
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October 12, 2021
California Appeals Court Affirms Denial Of Mandate, Fees In ‘Monterey’ Water Case
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Sept. 22 affirmed a trial court’s denial of mandates and attorney fees in challenges to the “Monterey” changes in long-term water supply contracts involving California’s Central Water Project and State Water Project.
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October 12, 2021
San Diego Authority Says Metropolitan OK’d $36M Payment For Illegal Water Charges
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego County Water Authority on Sept. 30 announced in a press release that the directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California decided to pay damages and statutory interest of about $36 million for illegal water charges from 2015 to 2017.
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October 08, 2021
2 California Water Districts Settle Lawsuits Over Drought, Conversion Allegations
LOS ANGELES — The Imperial Irrigation District (Imperial) and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) on Sept. 16 settled two California state court lawsuits alleging that Metropolitan violated state environmental laws and converted Imperial’s water for its own use.
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October 07, 2021
Supreme Court Special Master Begins Water Rights Trial In Texas-New Mexico Dispute
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The trial of Texas’ water claims against New Mexico and Colorado got under way on Oct. 4 before a U.S. Supreme Court special master.
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October 05, 2021
California Appeals Court Affirms Rulings Banning Water District’s ‘Wheeling’ Rates
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court on Sept. 21 affirmed a judgment and a peremptory writ of mandate issued by a lower court ordering the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California not to impose certain water “wheeling” charges against the San Diego County Water Authority.
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October 04, 2021
Supreme Court Hears Mississippi’s Groundwater Case Against Tennessee
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Equitable apportionment of groundwater underlying Mississippi and Tennessee was a question asked of Mississippi by several U.S. Supreme Court justices during arguments on Oct. 4, and Mississippi’s attorney said that while the state continues to disclaim that remedy, it might seek it depending on how the court rules on a special master’s report.
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September 21, 2021
Interior Secretary Haaland Signs Water Compact For Native American Water Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Sept. 17 signed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai-Montana Compact, formally executing the Montana Water Rights Protection Act and improving the tribes’ access to water within the Flathead Reservation, according to an Interior Department press release.
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September 17, 2021
5 Of Tribe’s Water Rights Claims Are Time-Barred; Rest Transferred To Utah Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 15 dismissed five claims in a Native American tribe’s water rights complaint against the United States and Utah and transferred the remaining claims to a Utah federal court.
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September 08, 2021
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases
New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
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September 08, 2021
Clean Water Rule Intervenors Filed But Didn’t Speak, Pennsylvania Judge Rules
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Aug. 6 denied a motion by eight states and three industry associations to strike plaintiffs’ response to a United States motion to remand a Clean Water Rule case to federal agencies without vacatur.
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September 08, 2021
9th Circuit Ignores EPA’s Reversal, Says Clean Water Act Applies To Wetlands
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 16 ignored the Environmental Protection Agency’s reversal in a Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement action and said that a federal district court properly granted the agency summary judgment against Idaho property owners who claimed that the CWA did not apply to wetlands on a property they own.
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September 08, 2021
California Appeals Court Reverses, Remands $2.5M Fee Award For Groundwater Class
FRESNO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Aug. 24 said a class of “small water pumpers” in a groundwater adjudication is entitled to attorney fees and costs but reversed a court’s $2.5 million award because it is “contradictory in terms of the amounts taxes and awarded.”
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September 08, 2021
Georgia Federal Judge Rejects Challenges To Army Corps’ ACF Water Manual
ATLANTA — Writing, “Decades of deferral and delay due to litigation should end,” a Georgia federal judge on Aug. 11 denied challenges by Alabama and three environmental groups to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Water Control Manual for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin.
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September 08, 2021
Oklahoma Federal Judge: Water Company’s Costs Free Developer’s Choice
OKLAHOMA CITY — Finding that a nonprofit water company’s fee requirements for water services to a housing development were “excessive, unreasonable, and confiscatory,” an Oklahoma federal judge on Aug. 16 said the developer is not required to use the water company and can use another water provider.
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September 08, 2021
Massachusetts Federal Judge Remands Clean Water Rule Lawsuit Without Vacatur
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Sept. 1 granted the United States’ motion to remand a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s Clean Water Rule without vacating the rule, acknowledging that days earlier an Arizona federal judge did vacate the rule.
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September 07, 2021
California Judge Enjoins Water Ordinances Targeting Hmong Residents
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on Sept. 3 enjoined a county from enforcing two water ordinances because she said they appear to discriminate against Hmong residents of the rural county and deprive them of water.
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September 03, 2021
3 California Irrigation Districts Sue State Water Board Over Curtailment Order
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three northern California irrigation districts on Sept. 1 filed a complaint in state court against the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), saying the board’s Aug. 20 curtailment of the districts’ water rights in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Watershed (the California Delta) is contrary to law, without factual basis and in violation of due process rights.